Calm Before The Storm
by UltimateWarriorFan4Ever
Summary: Meeshell Mermaid experiences the worst traumatic thing to ever happen to her one Thursday night. And now she wants to remain hidden from everybody. Well, except for a certain frog prince of course. And he may be the only person to help her in her time of need. Originally titled "Tears In The Form of Silence", but story was removed due to an M rating. Now reposted under a new title.


**"Calm Before The Storm"**

**Rated T for mild language, mentioning of rape, and violence**

**Pairing: Meeshell Mermaid X Hopper Croakington II**

**Summary: ****Meeshell Mermaid experiences the worst traumatic thing to ever happen to her one Thursday night. And now she wants to remain hidden from everybody. Well, except for a certain frog prince of course. And he may be the only person to help her in her time of need.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with Ever After High or any of the characters. They are owned and associated by Mattel and the respective co-authors of the Ever After High books themselves, Shannon Hale and Suzanne Selfors. Now I know what you're thinking, doesn't this sound a bit familiar? Well, because this is actually "Tears In The Form of Silence", but since it got removed for apparently no reason due to the M rating, I had to make some changes, so therefore, one scene had to be cut out. Plus, I'm now reposting this, not also with some edits grammar-wise, but with a brand new title. So yes, this will be a Hopper/Meeshell fanfic, and it will feature quite a controversial topic. So make sure you got that sweet six-pack of root beer you have by your side and enjoy!**

**P.S.: This will also have couples as well, so expect them too.**

* * *

_**Chapter 1: A Shocking Confession**_

* * *

The night shone all throughout the Village of Bookend as a group of friends all exited the movie theater looking beat, exhausted and excited. Obviously, they had just watched one of the most-anticipated movies of the summer, _GhostSpellers _(a parody of GhostBusters, just so you know). It was a movie about four best friends who hunt down ghosts using four magic vacuum-sucking books. Sure it looked a little corny and weird, but nevertheless, everyone watching the movie thought it looked kinda cool.

The girls who walked out of the theatre were the daughter of Snow White, Apple White, the daughter of the Evil Queen, Raven Queen, the daughter of the Pied Piper, Melody Piper, the daughter of the Fairy Godmother, Farrah Goodfairy, and to round out the group, a girl with pink-reddish hair decked out in a very sparkly red/blue dress that made to look like a mermaid's tail. She looked so beautiful and breathtaking that when the rest of the male students see her, they stop in their tracks, hoping to see this girl sing her heart out. After all, she was known for that golden singing voice. That last girl of the bunch happened to be the daughter of the Little Mermaid, Meeshell Mermaid. She looked a little scared for some reason, but still managed to be brave along with her friends.

"Oh man, that was such a great movie!" Raven exclaimed.

"I know," Melody said, nodding alongside Raven, "That final battle between those guys and that Spell-Puft Man looked epic!"

"Yeah, those movie makers did a good job at making those ghosts real." Apple nodded as well.

"I tell ya, just watching that movie makes me wanna go see it again," Farrah smirked before focusing back on a very shy Meeshell, "Don't you think so, Meeshell?"

The four couldn't get an answer from the shy mermaid girl themselves, but Meeshell did respond with a weak little nod followed by her going, "Uh-huh..."

They knew something was going on between that scared little expression on her face.

"Wait a minute, don't tell me you were scared this whole time." Raven smirked.

"Hey, I wasn't scared of the movie!" Meeshell exclaimed.

"Really?" Apple raised her eyebrow, "What's with all the shivering you did throughout the whole movie?"

"It was a little cold, that's all." Meeshell said, lying under her teeth a little.

"But it was mostly warm on the inside." Apple replied again.

"It looked awfully cold to me..." Meeshell shivered in response.

Throughout all of this shivering though, Farrah came up to her and caressed her friend's shoulder.

"Meeshell, if you were scared of that movie all along, then why didn't you tell us, then?" She asked.

"I really thought I could take it," Meeshell replied before muttering, "Apparently, not too well."

"You could have just told us the first thing we went inside." Raven said, stepping in the awkward conversation.

"Oh no, I don't want to intrude," Meeshell smiled a little weakly. "It's just gonna take me a little bit of time to get used to scary movies like this, that's all."

However, in the middle of the conversation, Melody looked at her watch knowing how late it was for the five of them.

"I don't know about you, but it's kinda gettin' late for me. I'm gonna turn in for now. Ciao!" Melody replied before taking off by herself.

"Okay, see ya later, Melody!" Apple said, waving goodbye.

"Yeah, I'm gonna turn in too." Raven nodded. "Got a hectic 5,000 word essay to work on thanks to Rumpelstiltskin..."

"Good luck with that, Raven." Apple sighed a little while Raven took off as well.

"What's on your mind, Apple?" Farrah asked her.

"Well, I might as well help Raven out on her project." She groaned while shaking her head. "Hopefully, it'll give her less of a chance of breaking herself. Bye!"

Just like that, Apple walked away, therefore leaving both Farrah and Meeshell alone at the theater.

"Sorry this night didn't turn out for you." Farrah replied.

"Like I said, it's okay." Meeshell sighed with a nod. "I'll try to toughen it out with time."

"You know if you want to, we can always go out next week," Farrah suggested to her clearly. "I heard there's this goofball comedy Sparrow's been wanting to see. You up for it?"

"I think that would be a perfect idea." Meeshell responded, accepting the offer.

"Hexcellent!" Farrah said, patting her on the shoulder.

Knowing that it was also late for her, Farrah decided to turn in for the night herself, but not without looking back at her roommate.

"Hey, you coming along?" She asked over to Meeshell.

"Oh, the night's still good," Meeshell replied. "I'm just gonna do a little shopping around."

"All right, don't stay out too late." Farrah nodded.

"I won't." The mermaid girl shook her head, right before Farrah finally took off.

Now all that was standing there was Meeshell and the gorgeous lights that surrounded the Village of Bookend. The only thing that really got to her is which shop should Meeshell go to for a little shopping? After all, it was only 9:00 and the shops didn't close until around 10:00. There were so many possibilities and suggestions for places to go to that it was just so hard for the mermaid to choose.

There was the Glass Slipper, the place where the daughter of Cinderella, Ashlynn Ella, worked at. Maybe Meeshell could do a little shoe shopping, trying to find out a huge price on those crystal high-heels she wanted. The only problem is that Ashlynn already had the place closed due to a date she was having with her boyfriend, Hunter Huntsman.

Maybe the Wonderland Haberdashery and Tea Shoppe that Maddie Hatter worked at would still be open. After all, Meeshell didn't have anything to drink throughout the movie, so maybe a little warm raspberry tea and two big Wonderlandian nut bars would help fuel Meeshell's taste buds up. However, just like Ashlynn, Maddie's shop was closed down as well due to the cause of termites. Okay, so the Tea Shoppe was out of the question.

Or maybe she could go get a little haircut down at the Tower Hair Salon where Poppy O'Hair resided. Oh wait, she couldn't go there due to a prank that Kitty Cheshire caused in there a few days ago. Apparently, the tale was that Kitty had decided to add some hair-growing tonic to the rest of the students' hair, which caused them to grow to gigantual planet Earth levels. That of course, resulted in the whole place being flooded by nothing but flowing long locks. It was clear that a haircut was a totally bad idea for Meeshell.

This really troubled her so much. Not one of these places where her friends had worked at were open.

"Uhhh, this is useless." Meeshell groaned. "There's gotta be at least one place open around here that I can go to..."

Meeshell suddenly realized that the rest of the people were leaving the village square one at a time. It nearly looked more like a ghost town with a few people still around. Out of curiosity, Meeshell looked up at the clock only to realize that it was 10:00, which was closing time. Apparently, it looked very late enough for Meeshell, who decided to head on out. Hopefully, there was always next time for her to do a little spending.

But before she could leave, she heard a normal male voice talking to her.

"Excuse me miss, do you have the time?" The stranger said.

Meeshell suddenly turned around to see a man wearing an entire blue hoodie and blue eyes to match. There was something about this stranger's appearance that looked so weird and unusual. Maybe Meeshell thought that guy was cold due to the cold breeze that filled through the night, so he had to wear something to warm him up. But either way, Meeshell managed to respond right away.

"Um, were you talking to me...?" She gulped a little.

"Yes, I was miss." The stranger asked politely. "Do you have the time?"

"I think it's around 10:02 right now," Meeshell said while looking up the clock. "What's wrong, do you need help getting home?"

"Well, it's something like that, I need to get to the pier." He replied while shrugging.

"You wanna go to the pier in the middle of the night?" Meeshell gasped.

"Yeah, it's what I do to clear my thoughts." The stranger replied.

After such thinking and considering, Meeshell decided to make her decision. After all, he couldn't obviously be a bad guy, right?

"Okay, I'll show you where it is." The mermaid nodded. "Just hold my hand, and I'll show you where it is, okay?"

"All right." The blue-hooded stranger nodded as he followed Meeshell.

So far, the little walk over to the pier didn't look so bad and quiet.

* * *

Both Apple White and Raven Queen were walking around the halls of Ever After High, heading over to the castleteria to get some lunch. After all, an appetite was needed for the two of them after such a long brutal day of schoolwork. For Raven however, the look on her face was very grim, considering she didn't get too much sleep because of the long exhausting essay she was working all night. She definitely had to thank that annoying Rumplestiltskin for that harsh task.

"Yikes, what a night I had." Raven said, yawning to death.

"C'mon, it couldn't be all bad, Raven." Apple replied while patting Raven on the shoulder.

"Believe me, Apple," Raven groaned. "Having to stay awake while trying to drink five fairychinos and do that dreaded essay at the same time is bad. My eyes and wrist hurt so much from writing, I can't even get them to blink or move."

"Well, maybe some lunch will help make those eyes better." Apple smiled.

"Oh swell, I can't wait..." Raven said, rolling his eyes.

The long study session they had last night forced Apple and Raven to hit the food court right away since the two didn't feel like eating some ordinary school lunch. Apple bought herself a tasty chicken sandwich alongside some seasoned fries and a slice of Apple pie while Raven immediately went for a footlong chili dog and a big bowl of delicious chocolate pudding along with some tasty orange drink.

After giving out only $10 bucks straight to the lunchlady, Apple and Raven looked around for a good seat. It wasn't too long until they found a table where Farrah Goodfairy was sitting at with a worried expression. Curious to know what's up with her, both girls approached her head-on.

"Hey, Farrah, what's up?" Apple replied.

"I wish I could tell you the same thing," Farrah sighed depressingly. "Have you guys seen Meeshell lately?"

"No, we haven't," Raven shook her head in response. "We kinda assumed she was sick."

"Are you sure, you two?" Farrah raised her eyebrow. "Because she never came back last night. I feel worried that something bad might have happened to her."

"I'm pretty sure it must've been a coincidence," Raven shrugged unsurely, "I mean, Meeshell must have a good reason why she didn't come home last night. She could've had a family emergency out of all things."

"If she could've told me that, then she would have texted me about the whole thing in the first place." Farrah groaned.

"Well, have you ever started texting her to see if she's doing okay?" Apple suggested in concern.

"I did, only around 10 times!" Farrah exclaimed before taking in another sigh, "I don't like the looks of this at all..."

"Well, she'll hopefully show up sooner or later." Apple said, reassuring her in the process.

"I only hope you're right about this," Farrah sighed before stating, "But I'm telling you, something doesn't feel right here."

Apple and Raven agreed with Farrah right away before continuing with their lunch, now being unsure of their good friend's whereabouts.

* * *

The warm, yet cool breeze surrounded all across the bookball stadium. A row of bookball players were busy warming up for their last task - dummy tackling. Both Hunter Huntsman, Sparrow Hood, Dexter Charming, Hopper Croakington II, and the only female player on the team, Cerise Hood, were warming up and stretching as a way to decrease the risk to injuries and sprains the group would not leave on the field after it was over.

The team captain of the bookball team, Daring Charming, was standing behind the row of tackling dummies while Coach Gingerbreadman was standing next to the team themselves.

"Okay everyone, now that you're already finished with the offense hexercises, it's now time to go into defense!" The coach exclaimed. "Any questions?"

"Yeah, I got one," Dexter said, raising his hand.

"What is it, meathead?" The coach said to the specs-wearing individual.

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" Dexter groaned in return. "I mean I passed Raven on my way over here and she ended up calling me meathead for the entire day. I don't get it."

With a smirk, Daring approached her brother and noticed a note on the back of Dexter's bookball uniform. He took it off and shown to his brother what was written on the back of the shirt.

"Maybe this might clear things up, little bro." Daring replied.

"_Hello, my name is Meathead_?!" Dexter said, reading the note carefully.

"Yeah, Sparrow kinda put it there while you weren't looking." Daring chuckled while pointing to a smirking Sparrow.

"It was my ideeeeeeeeeea!" Sparrow sang in insult.

"Well, all jokes aside, it's time for your tackling lesson." The coach said, now acting serious. "Gentleman and gentlewoman, get in position."

Hearing the coach carefully, both Daring, Dexter, Hopper, Hunter, Sparrow and Cerise all stood together in formation, going into a three-point stance. They all stared down the dummies like a pack of wolves who would hunt their target down as prey. And then, they would skin, cook and eat the poor sucker, complete a very perfect appetite. It was about to get intense. The sweat was nearly dripping out of their foreheads, waiting to make that first move.

They would only do it by the sound of a whistle that Coach Gingerbreadman held around his hands.

"Okay, are you ready?" The coach said to the team. "On your mark... get set... HUT!"

Once the whistle sounded, the entire team tackled the row of dummies, nearly using their combined power to push them over the goal-line. The two were struggling hard to push them though, so the coach blew his whistle again, making the team tackle the dummies again. Luckily, with the second attempt, the dummies felt some movement through the glass, but still, it wasn't really enough for the six of them.

Those tackles were already taking a toll on them, mostly Hopper Croakington II, who suddenly went down on his knees.

"C'mon, Hopper! There's no time to rest!" Cerise exclaimed.

"Those dummies are hell, Cerise!" Hopper groaned in response. "They're beating our butts!"

"Less talking, more tackling, meat-heads!" The coach shouted. "C'mon, I wanna see those dummies cross that goal-line and I ain't leavin' until that happens! Until then, HUT HUT HUT!"

The couch suddenly blew the whistle once more, leaving the entire team tackling the dummies yet again. Only this time with much great force. The motivation that the coach gave them was now full of spirit and fire, using all of their energy to get through the field. The entire group of six weren't stopping at all. Like a violent roaring ocean, they were pushing those dummies straight to holy hell on high water. They added some extra speed and extra power thanks to Daring flexing his entire muscular body around the weight of the dummies.

After only a good 30 seconds of pushing, the huge dummies had finally made it to the goal line. That brought a lot out of the six, who all collapsed on the field in an exhausted tone.

"Now that's what I call defense, meatheads!" The coach shouted with a smile. "I want all of you to memorize everything I've taught you leading up to next week's game, so no need for slacking off, pansies! Anyway, rest up and head out everyone! Dismissed!"

While the coach had finally left, the six continued to ache in pain as a result for moving those weight-contained dummies. Although for Cerise however, she really didn't hurt too much.

"Wow, that was the rush I needed." Cerise sighed in relief.

Hopper immediately groaned before saying, "Well, I hope I never have to push another dummy as long as I have to. Believe me, we already have enough of Sparrow to go around..."

The entire bookball team were busy showering off the dirt spots that were containing all around their body several moments later. And there was nothing they hated more than a little nasty dirt spot coming from the field. Cerise couldn't join them at all because she was busy showering herself off in her dorm room, and who wouldn't blame her considering she didn't want everyone to see her wolf ears under her hood? Not Daring. Not even Dexter or Hunter or Sparrow and clearly not Hopper, truth be told.

After their shower was done, both boys started redressing from their locker rooms. While they were getting dressed, Dexter turned to his brother, who was checking himself out in the mirror to see if he had any flaws.

"So bro, you up for some _Call of Beauty_ tonight?" Dex asked him.

"I wish, but I got a date tonight with Apple." Daring replied. "She's been obsessed with going to the movies lately, so I suggested we go see that action movie I wanted to see. Of course, she wanted to see that chick flick instead so Apple nagged me about it until I had no choice but to change my mind."

"You ever tried changing her mind, instead?" Hunter suggested to him.

"I figured it wouldn't be worth arguing about," Daring smirked before slamming his locker shut, "Although Apple looks so cute and adorable when she nags, so I ain't complaining. Anyway, don't wanna keep her waiting. Charm you later."

Daring found himself heading out for the door while Hopper found himself being approached by his geeky brother, Dexter.

"So, Hopper, you and me for some _Call of Beauty_ tonight?" Dex smirked.

Hopper painfully groaned in response, "I'd love to, Dex, but I'm still feeling a little sore from the dummies. Why can't you have Hunter or Sparrow join you?"

"Well, for one, Hunter's spending some alone time with Ashlynn and Sparrow and his band's got that interview to do with Blondie for her show." Dexter replied.

The frog prince then chuckled out of spite as he said, "Yeah, I never thought I'd live the moment to see Sparrow dating her."

"I probably don't know what else Blondie sees in him," Dexter sighed. "I think she probably has a thing for men who try to light a fart on fire."

"Yeah, it could be about that." nodded the son of the Frog Prince.

"So you still in?" Dexter asked him.

Hopper then nodded as he said, "If I can try to heal up faster than I think, then I'll join ya."

"All right, now we got ourself a night!" Dexter said, fist-pumping in victory. "I'll see you at the dorm buddy!"

Dexter finally left the locker room with excitement in his face, leaving Hopper all alone to heal up the rest of the bruises he had from bookball practice.

"Oh, why in the hell did I have to take this sport in the first place...?" Hopper groaned painfully, icing himself up even more for a good fifteen minutes.

However, he felt his mouth dry out of thirst. It was apparent that all of this painful bookball practice was making Hopper really parched. So maybe a refreshing cool drink could make him heal up faster, he thought. He finally left the locker room only for Hopper to look to the right and see a vending machine full of drinks standing by. Hopper wasted no time digging a dollar from his wallet, inserting the fold right into the machine before looking down at the choice of drinks that he wanted. Licking his lips already, Hopper dug a dollar out of his wallet and inserted right into the machine.

After only a nanosecond of searching, he figured out what drink he wanted:

Magic Dew.

One of Hopper's favorites.

He pressed the button, which forced him to hear the sound of the can drop right to its opening. The soda can came down, forcing Hopper to grab it right away from the opening and pop the top, feeling the refreshing citrus flavor fall down and surge all through Hopper's mouth like a roaring ocean wave. Sure it didn't make his bruises recover, but either way, he hoped that little soft drink in his hands helped regain his focus.

"Ahh, that hit the spot..." Hopper sighed in relief.

He took another refreshing sip of soda only to stop at an inch where his ears heard the sound of low quiet sobs coming out of nowhere.

"Is someone crying?" Hopper muttered to himself.

Hopper searched around everywhere to see where the small crying came from. It sounded so much like a girl crying in the background. In fact, it was like a painful kind of crying, along with some sorrowful hissing for measure.

The froggy individual suddenly looked to see that the crying came from an dark and empty supply closet next to the vending machine. Such nervous thoughts came to Hopper. Was there some kind of ghost inside the room, as if it was some kind of crying ghost? No, that wouldn't be possible. That's the only thing Hopper would only see in a scary horror movie involving ghosts. Yet, there was a good feeling he was wrong. But either way, he wanted to find out for himself.

Hopper quietly opened the door after taking in a big nervous gulp. He then turned on his mirrorpad, bringing in a small portable light shining a little bit around the darkened room. The whole supply closet was nothing out of the ordinary, though. The place was filled with nothing but various sports balls and boxes, looking so much like a small mini-warehouse for midgets. He wandered around a good portion of the closet before seeing a shadow sitting right behind the boxes, terrifying Hopper a little bit.

_"Okay, I only hope that ain't a ghost..."_ Hopper thought in total fear.

He moved very slowly, yet quietly and smoothly as if he did not want to leave a very loud awaking sound in its wake.

Once he turned right around to the shadow...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Both screams were heard from both Hopper and the mysterious figure altogether, mostly Hopper in which the scene scared him to death so much, it made him fall to the floor. It also made his MirrorPad tumble all around in his hands and fall, but Hopper luckily managed to catch it just in time. He felt his heart beat violently in response, trying to keep it in pace and in sync. Hopper took another few deep breaths before he flashed his MirrorPad at the figure, who looked scared and terrified beyond belief.

A gasp appeared inside him as he saw an uncomfortable image of the figure. Her reddish pink hair looked so ratty, her bruises appeared around her arms, her dress looked a bit ratty and torn, and her light pearl-encrusted high heels looked messy as ever. But what terrified Hopper much more was the scent of blood and that surrounded the scared victim's own body.

To his horror, the figure Hopper was seeing before him was a scarred and terrified Meeshell Mermaid!

"Meeshell?" He replied.

"Please, g-g-go away..." Meeshell replied shivering in tears while hugging her own knees.

"Meeshell, what are you doing inside a supply closet like this?" Hopper gasped.

She shivered yet again as Meeshell sobbed silently, "I... I d-d-don't want to talk about it..."

"Why not?" He asked, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"I just don't want to, okay?!" Meeshell cried a bit louder.

Seeing Meeshell so torn, bruised and crying like this broke Hopper's heart completely. If there's anything he hated worse than being turned into a frog, it was seeing a beautiful girl get hurt emotionally. There were obviously no words to this little scene standing before him as of now. Yet, despite Meeshell not telling him what happened, Hopper wasn't bound to give up that easily. He needed to know what was wrong with Meeshell either way.

"Meeshell, I can't help you if you at least tell me what's wrong." Hopper replied in a calming voice. "Look, whatever is bothering you, just tell me and I will do anything whatever it takes just to help you feel better. I don't care if the problem is big or small, just... tell me, okay?"

Meeshell knew she couldn't hold this off for much longer. She didn't have much of a choice. She had to tell someone.

"You promise you won't tell anyone?" She whispered.

Hopper then nodded reassuringly, "Yeah, I promise."

He continued to place his hand over a shaken Meeshell, whose tears still started to fall uncontrollably. She took deep heavy breaths trying to calm herself with horrible results. The silence occurred a good fifteen seconds before Hopper heard the only three words that he had never expected to hear from her:

"I... I was raped."

Shock and disbelief immediately spreaded through Hopper's face in a flash.

The grim thoughts of sweet, innocent Meeshell being beaten and raped with no one to help her didn't just break the froggy prince's heart, but deep inside his soul, his entire heart was burning in total anger. He was so angry on the inside that he had a right to confront this person that caused this heartless act to the mermaid that was soaking to her knees. Hopper couldn't show the anger he had over to Meeshell, but instead, he showed heart and compassion by wrapping his arm around her, letting Meeshell cry on his chest in comfort.

She managed to hang onto Hopper as tight as she could before Meeshell got a little weary and tired. Despite being cradled a little around his arm, the intense pain burned throughout her legs, making Meeshell cry a little more.

"Who did this to you...?" He whispered with a hint of anger in his eyes.

"I don't know..." Meeshell replied a bit weakly, shaking her head.

"Look Meeshell, you need to tell me now," said a concerned Hopper said, "I can't go on and help you until you at least tell me who's behind this. I really need to find out from you, Meeshell, or else things are gonna get out of control. Please?"

"I... I just can't, okay? You wouldn't understand!" Meeshell said, shivering in tears.

Hopper knew he wasn't gonna get an answer, knowing that something inside this beautiful mermaid girl told her that she didn't feel ready to tell him yet. Meeshell had second thoughts due to those searing images that was brought on by the assailant's face. Something about that chilling encounter that she had last night was cold, heartless and remorseless enough to make Meeshell even more silent. Yet Hopper had finally decided to respect her decision in a meaningful way.

He sighed uncomfortably, "Okay, I won't force it out on you then. How long were you staying here in the supply closet?"

Meeshell calmed down a little, muttering very quietly, "Since last night..."

"Last night?" Hopper gasped. "You've been staying in this room for a long time? Did you at least eat something?"

"Just... just barely." She shivered in return.

"Meeshell, that's not good for you!" He exclaimed right before picking her up on her two feet very slowly. "C'mon, let's see if we can at least get out of this closet and get you something to eat."

"But I can't go out with anyone seeing me!" Meeshell cried out. "It's... it's just too painful to be out in front of everybody!"

"We don't have a choice, Meeshell." Hopper said, attempting to calming her down.

"I just don't want to, okay?" She shivered again.

This was so far the hardest thing Hopper ever had to deal with. Well, having to lust girls without ever having to turn into a frog was basically second place. Having to help a damaged Meeshell in her most crucial time of need was now first place on his list. In her case, it was a lot more painful than the bruises and sores he had been suffering from bookball practice, except it was much worse compared to what Meeshell was feeling.

So, he had to think of a solution, and fast.

"I got an idea." Hopper replied..

"What's that?" Meeshell sniffed a little.

"There's a little cart here in the room," He explained. "I can put you in the cart, and I'll cover you with a big white sheet so that you won't be seen with everyone. If anyone ever sees us, I'll just tell them I'm rolling out some library books. Is that better?"

Meeshell nodded weakly as she said, "I guess that's okay..."

"All right, just hang in there for a little bit." Hopper said as she set her down on one of the boxes Meeshell was hiding at.

Hopper removed the sport balls, jump ropes and sport nets quietly and carefully, only to remove the cart from under the pile. After he was done, Hopper tried his best to find a big enough piece of fabric to fully hide Meeshell's entire body from the crowd of students the two would soon face. There was no huge white sheet he could cover the mermaid up, much to his disappointment. There was one of those old blue rain mats instead, so Hopper had no choice but to take what he had to take.

Once he got everything in place, Hopper attempted to walk her over to the cart. But Meeshell stopped right away due to the burning pain she was still suffering around her legs.

"Owwww..." She hissed.

"You alright?" Hopper asked her.

"No, I'm still feeling a little sore..." Meeshell shook his head before saying. "Can you pick me up?"

"Yeah, I can do that. Just hang on." He nodded before carrying the mermaid, bridal style.

Hopper with such careful precision, gently placed her on top of the cart and then grabbed the blue rain mat, covering her up. The rain mat smelled pretty old and bland for something that had been sitting in a supply closer for 45. Regardless, it felt a little warm for Meeshell to endure as the rain mat prevented that cold, unforgiving air from breezing her body. Meeshell increased her warmth by hugging her knees once again, acting like some sort of ball in defense. A position like that didn't stop the tears that were flowing down from her face, but much to her safety, at least no one was seeing her cry now.

After she was covered with the mat, Hopper then opened the closet door and looked around to see if there were any visitors. There weren't any walking by much to both of their relief, which meant that the coast was clear for the both of them to exit out of the closet and shutting the door behind them. Using every ounce of strength he had from bookball practice, Hopper pushed the entire cart all through the hallway.

"I want you to hang on, okay?" Hopper replied.

"Okay..." Meeshell nodded weakly.

With a deep breath, he used every ounce of strength Hopper had from bookball practice and pushed both the cart (and Meeshell) throughout the hallway and started traveling through the lockers.

Suddenly, a crowd of girls were suddenly watching Hopper push the cart with their eyebrows raised in an oddly way. Hopper was quite embarrassed and red-faced by this whole situation, but he was brave enough to take a quick look at them and attempted to cover the situation up.

"Oh, never to worry, ladies." He laughed nervously to the group. "It's just nothing but library books here. Nothing to see!"

He took in a depressing deep breath and continued on, continuously pushing the cart with an emotionally affected Meeshell Mermaid inside. No doubt that it was starting to take a toll on his body. It was way more heavy then the tackling dummy Hopper just conquered not too long ago. He was having a tough time, yet still managed to push regardless of the stamina the froggy prince was losing per second.

It took him nearly 10 minutes of pushing before Hopper finally made it to his dorm room. He wiped off a little bit of sweat off his forehead before checking on the emotionally-scarred mermaid herself.

"We'll stay in my dorm room if that's okay with you." He asked her.

Meeshell didn't have anything to say, but he did see her nod through the mat.

Her tears finally managed to dry up a little before Hopper soon looked between his shoulders, hoping that no one would walk past by him. Once again, there was no one around the hallways, which was clear for Hopper to open the door and take the blue mat off of Meeshell just so she could come in. She tried to get up on her own, but the intense pain started to flare up around her legs once again, making her hiss.

"Are you okay?" Hopper asked her.

"It... it still hurts." She replied.

"Do you want me to pick you up?" He asked again.

Once again, Meeshell didn't answer, but nodded in response instead.

"Okay, just hop on my back."

She heard those words from Hopper himself, forcing Meeshell to wrap his arms around him from behind and hop on top of him in a piggyback position. He continued to use every ounce of his stamina to get Meeshell inside his room and onto his bed, where he carefully and gently placed her on top of the bedding. It was a good thing she was a little less heavy for him to carry, which was good knowing Hopper already had enough of carrying a heavy load for today.

He once again let out a deep breath before Hopper turned over to her, "Stay there, okay? I'll see if I can draw up a bath for you."

"All right." She nodded, remaining on the bed.

Hopper quickly turned on the bathroom lights and went to the bathtub, turning on the hot water. However, clearly knowing that the temperature of the water was enough to make Meeshell's legs hurt way more, Hopper turned on the cold water as well, now making it a little more warm for her to get in. He checked on the water to make sure it was just right for her to go in. Feeling the warm stream of water around his hands, Hopper soon left the bathroom and checked on Meeshell once again.

"The water's all set up, so I'm gonna carry you over to the toilet so I can undress you, alright?" He reminded her.

"Okay, but is it all right if I can get out of these clothes myself?" asked Meeshell.

Hopper blushed through his cheeks right away, nodding a bit nervously yet clearing his throat, "Um, absolutely. I can turn around if that's fine with you."

She nodded once Hopper managed to carry Meeshell over to the bathroom where she gently placed her on the padded toilet. He turned around only to hear the sound of a zipper going down, which would indicate that she was now undressing behind is back. It took only five minutes before Meeshell spoke out to him.

"Hey, Hopper?"

"Yeah?" He replied.

Meeshell then asked him right away, "Could you help me up to the tub?"

"I... don't have to carry you, do I?" Hopper gulped.

"No, just walk me through there." She replied. "Just keep closing your eyes, okay?"

"Okay." He nodded, sighing in relief.

He continued to keep his eyes closed as Meeshell managed to wrap her arm around Hopper's neck and stood up. She carefully managed to take each step slowly, fighting through every groan and hiss she was feeling. After two good minutes later, they finally made it to the tub where Hopper carefully placed her entire body down gently into the tub. Meeshell's legs soon touched the water, therefore transforming them magically into a tail. It did nothing to get rid of the painful scarring sensation between her legs unfortunately, but at least with her entire lower body in the water, it was now starting to hurt less (although not as much). Hopper's eyes were now starting to hurt due to him tightly closing his eyes for so long, but he didn't have to remain closed for long once Meeshell spoke out to him once more.

"You can open your eyes now, Hopper. I'm in the tub." She reminded him.

"Oh, thank goodness." He sighed before finally opening his eyes.

And he had opened her eyes to see Meeshell soaking in the warm bath, which made him blush a little bit. Thankfully, he didn't see her entire bare body through that streaming water. The only thing he saw was just her hair, her face and the rest of her bare shoulders.

"Do you have soap and washcloth?" He asked her.

"Yeah, I think I should be fine." Meeshell nodded.

"Okay, now stay right here, I'll see if I can find you any clothes to wear." Hopper said, right before leaving Meeshell all by herself in the bathroom.

The Frog Prince's son looked around his entire dorm room for anything he could find for Meeshell to wear. He checked his closet for anything to wear, but all Hopper found was his wifebeaters and swim shorts. It didn't look very warm enough for Meeshell to wear, knowing it would make her feel a lot cold just by wearing them. And he wouldn't want her wearing a white long-sleeved buttoned up shirt, considering how sweaty Meeshell would be if she wore that thing to bed.

So not taking any chances, he looked right over to Daring's closet to find an assortment of his blue long-sleeved shirts, blue pants and assortment of scattered white sneakers all around. The only thing that was missing of course was Daring's signature letterman jacket. Much to Hopper's luck, he managed to find a dark blue shirt and blue shorts sitting next to the sneakers. He carefully reached down and grabbed his clothes, therefore shutting his roommate's closet on his way back to the bathroom.

"Sorry, I didn't find much, but all I found was a blue shirt and shorts." Hopper told her.

"That's fine with me," Meeshell nodded back. "Can you set them on the toilet?"

"Sure," He nodded back, doing what she told him to do.

He then placed Daring's clothes on the toilet before Hopper left the bathroom and headed straight for the fridge that he and Daring shared, hoping to find some food for Meeshell to have. Hopper couldn't believe that out of all things, he forgot to feed her the first thing he did when he and Meeshell got to his room.

So far, there wasn't much food there inside the refrigerator, except for some orange juice, a stack of chocolate bars, marshmallows, chocolate syrup, graham crackers, a dozen eggs, cucumbers, cream cheese and a loaf of bread. Hopper didn't have a single clue on what Meeshell could eat out of all of those things, but he just had to think of something. So without any choice, he grabbed the cucumber, cream cheese, loaf of bread and orange juice and shut the door behind him.

But before Hopper could prepare something for the mermaid to have, his ears were treated to the sound of knocking coming from the door. It didn't take too long for Hopper to rush through the door and open it wide just to see Farrah Goodfairy standing before him with concern in her face.

Hopper took in a loud gasp and yelped, "Ah, Farrah!"

"Hey, Hopper." Farrah groaned a little.

"So, um, what really brings you here?" Hopper chuckled nervously.

"I was here to see if you seen Meeshell at all lately."

Hopper felt an ounce of nervousness dread inside him as a result. The froggy prince was now in a total state of panic from that question. There was absolutely no way Hopper was gonna tell her where Meeshell was. Meeshell didn't even want to show her face around her friends, knowing that would make the mermaid become trapped in quite an uncomfortable situation if they found out. Hopper felt a bit frantic and panicked that it left him no choice for the crimson-haired prince himself to let out a fib in front of Meeshell's friend.

"Uh nope, I haven't seen her yet." Hopper shrugged. "Why did you wanna know?"

"It's just that Meeshell hadn't came home yet from the movie we went to last night," Farrah explained. "I've tried asking everyone from Blondie to Apple to Rosabella and they all told me they haven't seen her today. I even asked Sparrow, but all he was thinking about was hitting on me. So maybe I'd come to you instead."

Once again, Hopper let out a little white lie, replying with a shrug, "I'm sorry, just like I said, I haven't seen her all day. If I hear anything from her, I'll let you know."

"Thanks," Farrah nodded. "Sorry for wasting your time."

"It's no problem. If I see her, I'll definitely let you know." Hopper nodded back before shutting the door. It didn't feel right at all for Hopper to lie to Farrah like that, but what other choice did he have in order to protect Meeshell from his friends? It was simple. He had no other choice at all, but he knew it was the only choice.

He breathed a sigh of relief for a good minute before he heard Meeshell's voice once again speak right to him from the bathroom.

"Hopper, I'm done!"

The prince then rushed right over to the bathroom so he can manage to drain all the water out that Meeshell was bathing in. Knowing the water was nearly lowering down on her body, Hopper closed his eyes yet again, just so he wouldn't see her bare form yet again. If he did, Hopper would then lust after her and then he would turn into a frog right away. Yes, there was a part outside Hopper where he wanted to open his eyes and see Meeshell like this like a pervert, but in the inside, Hopper knew he didn't want the need lust after her knowing the nightmaring crisis she had experienced last night. He was focused on getting the mermaid through this trauma. He knew it wasn't gonna be easy in his mind though. It took only a minute for the water to disappear right off her body, now leaving her tail to transform back into her legs. She hoped with that bath, the blistering pain between her legs would hurt a little less.

"Okay, grab onto me if you can." Hopper whispered.

Meeshell nodded in return as she held onto Hopper and got herself up on her own two feet. But it did her absolutely nothing as it forced her to hiss a little in pain yet again, yet she managed to step out of the tub and walk straight to the toilet very slowly where Daring's night clothes stood. He carefully managed to sit her down on the covered toilet seat where Meeshell started to redress right away, leaving Hopper's eyes shut once more.

Thankfully for the prince, it wasn't for long before he finally opened his eyes to see Meeshell in Daring's tight blue shirt and blue shorts.

"You want me to take you to the bed?" Hopper asked her.

"Yeah," She nodded before latching herself onto Hopper once more.

The two then slowly made their way out of the bathroom and onto Hopper's comfortable king-sized bed. He lifted up the sheets, only for Meeshell to gently slide right in and cover herself through those warm bed sheets. It looked quite warm and enticing than the cold hard concrete floor Meeshell was sitting on only an hour ago from the supply closet. She found herself settled in those silk-like bed sheets, forcing Hopper to give her quite the caring look.

"How does it feel?" He asked her.

"Still hurts, but I'll try to make it through the night." Meeshell nodded.

"Okay, can you hang on for a little while?" Hopper asked her. "I'll go make you something to eat."

"Sure." She nodded before Hopper went back to the cucumbers, bread and cream cheese he left out on the counter.

He ended up cutting the crust out of the bread and the shell out of the cucumber before spreading the cream cheese around the crustless bread slices just so he could add the cucumbers in order to stick. Once he mushed them between the other slice of bread, Hopper used the knife to cut the sandwich between all four corners before going over to the glass counter to get a fresh clean glass for him to pour the orange juice in.

He then put the sandwich and juice inside a tray for him to carry over to Meeshell, who grabbed it from his hands.

"Here you go," Hopper replied. "Sorry, it was all I thought of."

"It's okay," She nodded while taking a sandwich slice.

She then took a big bite out of the cucumber sandwich, chewing in a normal pace. Meeshell tried her best not to rush it, and she didn't. A small smile lit up on her face, even though the traumatic moment was still plaguing her from the inside. She was impressed of the way Hopper became a very good cook, even if he didn't show it that much.

"It's actually very good." She asked him.

"Yeah, I try a little." Hopper shrugged while blushing.

"I actually see why," Meeshell nodded back

She set her sandwich down before the mermaid looked up to Hopper, who still refused to get rid of the blush that he had on his face. The mermaid looked through his eyes, which sent out a hint of caring and concern that she had never seen before. The way he was helping her out from this kind of emotional distress was so unlikely coming out of Hopper. Meeshell thought he was the kind of guy that would just do a horrible job of wooing girls whenever he laid his eyes on one, only to either get him turned down or turn himself into a frog, which he always hated. In Meeshell's thoughts, that definitely wasn't the case anymore.

The kind of Hopper that the mermaid was now seeing was more like a guardian angel who was now willing to do anything in order to shield and cover her from the unfortunate situation she had experienced last night. The maiden didn't really know what to think about him, yet she didn't know how she would thank him for the deed and gesture that he showed her. But she thought of the best way to return the gesture.

She instantly threw her arms around Hopper and hugged him very tightly, leaving the crimson-haired prince breathless and surprised. He looked very taken aback from this returned gesture, feeling every ounce of her warmth through him. Hopper felt his heart calm and skip a bit of a beat once his nose got a good whiff of the strawberry scent that was coming from her reddish-pink locks. No other girl around this school had ever hugged him quite like this. Hopper never felt Briar hug him, heck neither did Ginger Breadhouse herself. Yet there was something about Meeshell's unexpected hug that felt a huge weight get off Hopper's back once and for all. It wasn't long before Hopper immediately held onto her and hugged her back, therefore leaving them a bit of silence for a little bit. All that was heard was nothing more than the sound of calm, deep breaths coming between the two.

"Thank you so much..." She whispered with a weep.

"No problem," He nodded. "I'll move out of the way so I'll let you eat and sleep, okay? I'll figure out what to do tomorrow."

"Okay," Meeshell nodded before she finally broke out of the hug and continued to eat, although a bit carefully.

Hopper had finally decided to give her the space that she needed, leaving himself to leave her bedside for the moment so that he could make himself comfortable by sitting in the chair that was closer to the dorm room window. He managed to creak the window wide open so that he could give himself a little bit of air after all the stress he was given just for today. He took in quite the early-evening breeze and saw the blazing warm sun sparkle around the entire school as it began to set down for the entire day. No doubt the sunset was very bright, yet it burned just like the one thing that Hopper had now felt from the inside:

Nothing but an ounce of boiling blood.

It was boiling to the point that someone so despicable would get away with a heartless act like this, such as raping every ounce of innocence that Meeshell Mermaid once had. Just the thought of imagining Meeshell endure the salacious nightmare with no one helping her out made Hopper mad, angry and riled up. His hands had no choice but to form themselves into hard, binding fists. The same kind of fists that Hopper wanted to use, should he find and confront the attacker head-on. Sure he didn't know whoever it was that did this to Meeshell, but if it had to take him a long time for Hopper to find out the identity of that attacker itself, than that's what he was gonna do.

Right now, the only thing he could do was stare right at the sunset with his anger hidden away thanks to his thoughts, _"Whoever you are, I won't let you get away with this..." _

And the last thing he saw before turning in for the night was seeing the sight of Meeshell Mermaid sleep in his bed. He knew that her road to recovery, both physically and emotionally, was not going to be easy. Yet Hopper knew in his heart that he was willing to help her out regardless of the circumstances, no matter how long it was gonna take.

* * *

**Yes, I'll make sure to also re-edit this story and title back at Archiveofourown as well.**

**Anyway, this will be just the beginning, folks. What will happen next between both our favorite frog prince and mermaid altogether? Will Hopper find whoever raped her? It may be quite a multi-chapter story, but you'll be in for quite a shock everyone. So strap in everyone, it'll be quite a ride.**

**So, read, review, leave some feedbacks if you wish to until next chapter comes! Peace out, gangstas!**


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